22.10.11

Gestalt Programme Launching Event

by Ishrat HyattInternational The News, October 22, 2011, City News, p. 19

ISLAMABAD. The Ambassador of Switzerland and Mrs Regula Bubb hosted a function to mark the opening lecture of the Gestalt Educational Programme, which is being supported by the embassies of Switzerland and Germany.
The series of fifteen educational lectures, training sessions and workshops by Argentinean artist, Mariano Akerman architect and historian, Summa cum Laude, has been conceived especially for Pakistani audiences. Focusing on the Swiss-German contribution in the fields of theory and design, it aims at sharing experience and reconsidering the interplay between tradition and modernisation, over 2,500 students have been invited to participate from educational institutions around Islamabad and Rawalpindi.

Ambassadors Bubb and Koch, with the lecturer

After invitees representing the arts had arrived and were seated, the host welcomed them and said he and his wife were delighted to host the event which would showcase the artistic achievements of the great artists from his country as well as neighbouring Germany. He thanked the ambassador of Germany, Dr Michael Koch, for his help and collaboration and said it was so readily forthcoming that he was tempted to ask for it more often. With a few words about the Gestalt programme, he thanked the speaker for his contribution and asked him to take the floor.
Lectures by Mariano Akerman are never boring and you can listen to him for more than the usual length of time even though the subject may not be your cup of tea. His talks combine facts and figures with touches of humour and just a little spice in the form of taking a dig at people and places—in the nicest manner—thrown in for good measure, much to the delight of the audience. The students who attend his series in connection with the Gestalt programme will enjoy his style, probably compare it with that of others and generally come away with a greater understanding of the subject under discussion since he encourages his listeners' participation.
Mariano began by saying he had been in Pakistan for five years because he had a passion for art and because he has been inspired by the interest Pakistanis display in his artistic activities. "When people in Argentina ask when I am coming home, I reply home is here," he said. "Because I feel at home among my friends."

Mariano Akerman: Bridging Cultures

With a slide show to emphasise the points he made, Mariano began by speaking of European art of the 20th century, in particular the period of the Weimar Republic from 1918-1933; its ups and downs especially the economic downside between 1921-23 and the golden years from 1924-29 when there was a switch towards change of accepted norms and practises. It was interesting to hear and see the comparisons he made and how he explained what modern art was all about [...].
In a statement, Mariano says that the Gestalt theory and Bauhaus design are two of the important themes to be explored in this cycle of fifteen lectures, training sessions and workshops. Figure and ground, chance and intention, form and function, the rational and the irrational, repression and expression are discussed [in the Program], which reconsiders the modern idea of form and function integrated in a single, effective whole.
Yet, significantly, close observation may reveal that modernity is not only based on functionality and common sense, as it may present surprises too. Besides, is ornament a crime? Tradition has often associated it with identity. Can abstraction and mass-produced fabrications provide it? And what is the common raison d'être supporting the work of German-Swiss creators so diverse as Walter Gropius, Arp, Alberto Giacometti, Le Corbusier, Meret Oppenheim, Mies van der Rohe, Johannes Itten, Paul Klee, and Max Ernst?
A possible answer is that it was precisely around the 1920s that such inventive creators provided us with the best of Modern Art. Following their example and being characterised by its experimental nature and full-of-prizes collage contest, The Gestalt Programme aims to open a window towards the achievements of geographically and historically distant cultures, stimulating local productivity and inventiveness, without rejecting ancestral traditions.

28 comments:

Nicolas Plattner
said...

The Gestalt series of lectures by Mariano Akerman is an opportunity to bring a most significant European movement closer to the Pakistani audience. Indeed, experimentation and new objectivity are concepts which have shape European modern cultural identity. As always, Mariano Akerman's formidable knowledge of the art and his exceptional ability to captivate a wide audience will be beneficial for students and teachers alike, bringing the Gestalt closer to their own reality. The message conveyed by Klee, Le Corbusier, Arp, and other prominent artists and architects who have animated the Gestalt and Bauhaus is very much actual in today’s world. —Nicolas Plattner, The Swiss Embassy, Islamabad

Dear Mariano, I don't feel that the Gestalt Program is about "distant" cultures since you bring a sense of how some things keep going on ahead, despite and because of the darkest and worst of times, together with a sense of your own mission here—of promoting what is useful and good with reassurances about the capacity and predominance of the human holistic mind, to fill in the missing contextual gaps and links and look to the overall meaningfulness of the larger picture. During the launching lecture of the Gestalt Program people felt you made history come alive for them and made it feel relevant with your exposition on the life of the two schools, Gestalt and Bauhaus, their personnel, ideology and implementations that impacted not only Europe but the world. And they loved your "style" of delivery and the images you put together, they listened, they looked and were held by it all. And found it well, considered and amusingly presented by you, and interesting, stimulating and thought provoking for them, I'm sure. Well done!

I think it was probably the best lecture I have heard and see you do. You were right on form; able to blend your knowledge of the subject with great visual presentation, humour to those of us who perhaps didn't know anything about Gestalt.Your ability to combine, connect, integrate and transfer knowledge to the audience goes way beyond what many professors could do.

Dear Mariano, thank you. I agree the evening was a great success, primarily thanks to your competent, well structured presentation. The holistic approach and the humorous elements contributed to a fascinating learning experience. With kind regards and my best wishes for the series.Christoph Bubb Ambassador Embassy of Switzerland, Islamabad

Dear Mariano. I want to thank you for the wonderful lecture you gave last Thursday. You were brilliant and it is amazing how many things you know. Thank you for sharing this with us: I enjoyed it so much. I would like to participate in more of you lectures.I am sure you'll have a huge success. Good luck! Kind regards, Liuba

Your lectures have made me to come to the conclusion that Gestalt really works in every field. Especially the Form and Function topic has real implications in our lives. Moreover, your lectures really urge one's mind to negotiate and discover something abstract from one's inner self. Thanks for all the new seeds you have cultivated in our minds. I am sure one day their fruit will enlighten the whole world with a name: Mariano Akerman.

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